bodies--
have you not?--of a very high grade; to compare favorably with
Pennsylvania coal."

"The Geodetic Survey estimates there are over eight millions of acres of
coal land already known in Alaska," replied Hollis statistically. "More
than is contained in all Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio combined.
It is of all grades. The Bonnifield near Fairbanks, far in the interior,
is the largest field yet discovered, and in one hundred and twenty-two
square miles of it that have been surveyed, there are about ten billions
of tons. Cross sections show veins two hundred and thirty-one feet thick.
This coal is lignite."

"How about the Matanuska fields?" asked Mr. Bromley.

"The Matanuska cover sixty-five thousand acres; the coal is a high grade
bituminous, fit for steam and coking purposes. There are also some veins
of anthracite. I consider the Matanuska the best and most important coal
yet discovered in Alaska, and with the Bering coal, which is similar
though more broken, these fields should supply the United States for
centuries to come."

Mr. Bromley looked at the jury. His smile said:

"You heard that, gentlemen?" Then, his glance returning to the witness:

"Why the most important?" he asked.

"Because all development, all industry, in the north depends on the
opening up of such a body of coal. And these fields are the most
accessible to the coast. A few hundreds of miles of railroad, the
extension of one or two of the embryo lines on which construction has been
suspended, would make the coal available on Prince William Sound. Used by
the Pacific Navy, it would save the Government a million dollars a year on
transportation."

The prosecuting attorney looked at the jury again in triumph. "And that,
gentlemen, is why the Prince William Development Company was so ready to
finance one of those embryo railroads; why those Matanuska coal claims
were located by the syndicate's stenographers, bookkeepers, any employee
down here in their Seattle offices. Mr. Tisdale, if those patents had been
allowed and the claims had been turned over to the company, would it not
have given the Morganstein interests a monopoly on Alaska coal?"

Tisdale paused a thoughtful moment. "No, at least only temporarily, if at
all. Out of those eight millions of acres of coal land already discovered
in Alaska, not more than thirty-two thousand acres have been staked--only
one claim, an old and small mine on the coast, has been allowed." His